Dharma Kshetra

Ramadasu, the devotee who got imprisoned for building a temple

Once there was a boy who lived in a small village. One day, he discovered a beautiful parakeet and, enchanted by its vibrant colors, decided to bring it home. He kept the parakeet in a cage and enjoyed watching it every day, even as the poor bird looked miserable and longed to return to its home.

Every day, the parakeet sang, "Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama, Rama…" and so on. The boy found joy in the sweet voice of the small bird and laughed with pleasure whenever it sang. However, after keeping the parakeet for twelve days, the boy began to feel sympathy for it and decided to let it go.

With great happiness, the parakeet flew away, eager to reunite with its family. As time passed, the boy grew into adulthood, married, and led a fulfilling life as a householder. Eventually, he died of old age, satisfied with his life experiences.

In 1620 CE, the boy was reborn as Kancherla Gopanna in the village of Nelakondapalli, located in the south India. He was the only son of a humble Brahmana family, with his father named Linganna Murthy and his mother named Kamamba.

Kancherla Gopanna's uncle, Akkanna, served as the administrative head in the court of Qutub Shahi Sultan Abul Hassan Tana Shah, the Mughal ruler of the region. Due to Akkanna's influence in the king's court, he secured Kancherla Gopanna a position as the Tahsildar (revenue collector) of Palvoncha Paragana. Along with his wife Kamala, who was expecting at the time, Kancherla Gopanna moved to Palvoncha Paragana, where he fulfilled his official duties with honesty and kindness. The people of Palvoncha Paragana loved and respected him, listening to everything he said.

During this period, Kancherla Gopanna became an ardent devotee of Lord Ramachandra and composed many Krtis (songs in Carnatic music) dedicated to him. Among his famous compositions are "Anta Ramamayam" and "Bhadra Shaila Raja Mandira." Additionally, a son was born to Kancherla Gopanna and his wife Kamala, and they named him Raghu Rama.

A few years later, Kancherla Gopanna visited Bhadrachalam for a fair and to see the sacred site of Parnasala, where Lord Rama spent time with Sita and Laksmana during his exile. Nearby, there was another important site where Sabari lived before attaining moksa through Lord Rama. However, Kancherla Gopanna felt very disappointed when he saw the temple of Lord Rama, which held great significance for the Telugu people. This temple was the place where Potana had received darshan from Lrd Rama before writing the Bhagavatam. Unfortunately, the temple was in a dilapidated and unkempt condition. No priests performed puja there, and it was utterly neglected by the people of Bhadrachalam .

Kancherla Gopanna decided to raise funds to reconstruct the temple with the help of his wife, son, and the community. Everyone contributed something valuable, including gold necklaces, bangles, rings, and coins, for the temple's reconstruction. Along with Kancherla Gopanna's own wealth, they amassed a significant amount of money for this purpose. During this time, Lord Rama, pleased with Kancherla Gopanna's efforts, appeared to him in a dream and named him Ramadasu, meaning "servant of Lord Rama." From that moment on, Kancherla Gopanna was known as Ramadasu, one of the great devotees of Lord Rama.

Despite emptying his coffers, Ramadasu still did not have nearly enough funds to build an appropriate temple for his beloved Lord. The people of Palvoncha Paragana urged him to use the money from his revenue, promising to repay the entire amount after the harvest. After some persuasion, Ramadasu sent a message to King Tana Shah, requesting permission to use the revenue funds to construct a Rama temple in Bhadrachalam . The Mughal King Tana Shah had a wife named Sitara, who disliked Kancherla Gopanna, because she had hoped the job of Tahsildar would go to her own nephew. The message was delivered to Sitara's jealous nephew, who was responsible for passing all messages to the king. Sitara instructed her nephew not to inform King Tana Shah about Ramadasu's message, hoping to create an opportunity to imprison him because he had misappropriated the revenue without the king's consent.

After a while, when no message came from the king, Ramadasu assumed that the construction of the Ramalaya (home for Lord Rama) had been approved and began work on it. With the help of the people and his own devotion, Ramadasu soon completed the temple, spending 600,000 rupees of the land revenue. However, he faced one significant issue that troubled him greatly: hHow to obtain a Sudarsanacakra to place on the main crest of the temple.

One night, Lord Rama appeared to Ramadasu in a dream and instructed him to take a bath in the river. Upon waking, Ramadasu went to the river, and after completing his bathing ritual, he was delighted to find a Sudarsanacakra floating in the water. After praying to it, he affixed it to the temple.

With that, the temple was finished and once again stood in its golden, beautiful form. Every day, numerous rituals and pujas were performed for Lord Rama at the Bhadrachala Ramalaya.

One day, Ramadasu's only son, Raghu Rama, tragically died at the young age of 12 after falling into a hot vessel. In his deep sorrow and despair, Ramadasu composed a Krti dedicated to Lord Rama, expressing his misery and surrendering to Him. It is said that Lord Rama sent Hanuman to Bhadrachalam, and when Hanuman's shadow fell across the boy's lifeless body, Raghu Rama came back to life. Everyone was astonished by this miracle, but they soon realized that it was not the last of many miracles to come.

Soon after, King Tana Shah learned that Ramadasu had used funds to build a temple without his permission, and he grew enraged. He summoned Ramadasu to his court and questioned him about his actions. Ramadasu explained that he had sent a message, but Tana Shah believed he was lying. When asked if he felt his actions were wrong, Ramadasu responded that he did not. He asserted that money does not belong to a king but rather to Lord Rama, the ultimate salvation, and stated that using money for Lord Rama is never wrong.

Ramadasu then began to praise Lord Rama through his Krtis, recounting Sri Rama's story to the court of King Tana Shah. As a Mughal king, Tana Shah was not pleased at all. After dismissing Ramadasu from his position, he had him imprisoned in Golkonda Fort, near Hyderabad. Ramadasu would only be released if he repaid the 600,000 rupees he had spent and promised never to pray to Lord Rama or sing Krtis in His honor again.

Ramadasu had complete trust that Lord Rama would ultimately free him from prison. For many years, he composed hundreds of Krti dedicated to Rama, Sita, and Laksmana. In some of his compositions, he implored Sita Devi to ask her husband, Rama, to liberate him, sensing that Lord Rama had not noticed his pleas. Many of Ramadasu's Krti s reflect a sorrowful tone. At times, when he felt abandoned by Lord Rama, he expressed his despair in works like "Ikshvaku Kula Tilaka," where he reminded Rama of the temple he had built for Him, along with the jewelry he had acquired for the deities of Rama, Sita, and Laksmana.

While Ramadasu occasionally accused Lord Rama of being indifferent to the suffering of His devotees, he also expressed feelings of repentance, leading him to write Krti that show total surrender to the Lord.

King Tana Shah subjected Ramadasu to intense physical suffering in an attempt to make him lose devotion to Lord Rama. However, Ramadasu never wavered in his devotion to Lord Rama and continued to pray through his compositions.

One day, after an exhausting day of labor, Ramadasu was extremely tired and weak. Tana Shah ordered saltless, bitter bread to be delivered to Ramadasu so he could relish the sight of him struggling to eat the disgusting food. However, after taking a bite of the bread, Ramadasu sighed in pleasure and composed a song called "Entho Ruchira," in which he joyfully praises Lord Rama, expressing that the sweetness of Rama's name brings happiness and peace.

Ramadasu suffered endlessly for 12 years. Then Lord Rama and Laksmana took the form of two young warriors named Ramoji and Lakshmoji and came into Tana Shah's bed-chamber in the middle of the night. They woke up Tana Shah and presented him with much more than 600,000 rupees, asking him to release Ramadasu. After obtaining a receipt of release from Tana Shah, Ramoji and Lakshmoji went to the jailer of Ramadasu and presented him with the receipt. The jailer then released Ramadasu, but before Ramadasu could see who had saved him, Ramoji and Lakshmoji had disappeared.

When examining the coins that Ramoji and Lakshmoji had given him, Tana Shah saw that they had a strange emblem on them, and after referring with his ministers, he realized that the emblem was that of the son of Dasaratha, Lord Ramachandra himself. Tana Shah's eyes were opened, and he realized that Ramadasu's Rama really did exist, and he had been fortunate enough to receive darshan from him.

Ramadasu realized that Ramoji and Lakshmoji were none other than Lord Rama and Laksmana, who had come to release him from the prison of Tana Shah. However, he was deeply distraught because, despite having served Rama with devotion since his youth, he did not receive darsan from Him. In contrast, Tana Shah, who lived a life of materialism, was able to witness the blessed darsan of both Rama and Laksmana. This overwhelming sadness drove Ramadasu to the brink of ending his life.

In his moment of despair, Rama appeared to Ramadasu in a dream and explained the reason for his imprisonment. Rama revealed that in Ramadasu's previous birth, he had imprisoned a parakeet for twelve days and made fun of it while the parakeet chanted Rama's name. As a result, he had to suffer the consequences of his bad karma. Rama informed him that for each day he had caged the bird, he would suffer one year.

On the other hand, the Sultan was a devout follower of Lord Siva in his previous birth. He had promised to perform Rudrabhiseka to Lord Siva for 365 days, convinced that the Lord would appear before him afterward. The Sultan began the abhiseka but mistakenly believed he had completed the full 365 days after only performing it for 364 days. On the 365th day, frustrated that Lord Siva did not appear, he broke the lingam into several pieces. In response, the Lord manifested and made the Sultan realize his mistake. As punishment, the Lord decreed that in his next birth, the Sultan would be born as a non-follower. However, as a reward for performing the abhiseka for 364 days, Lord Rama himself would appear before him.

Rama assured Ramadasu that his karma was now finished and that he was free from any sins. He further explained that once Ramadasu died a natural death in this life, he would attain Moksha. At that moment, Rama revealed His true form, with Mata Sita by His side. Blessed by this divine vision, Ramadasu dedicated the rest of his life to serving the temple in Bhadrachalam. He passed away at the age of sixty.

Our suffering is due to the deeds we have performed previously. One should not assume that becoming a devotee eliminates suffering. Rather, the devotees of the Lord accept this suffering as the Lord's mercy, meant to purify them. In the preliminary stage of devotional practice, a devotee is often disturbed by suffering, becomes angry at the Lord for sending him suffering, and some even abandon their devotion out of anger. However, as one advances in devotion, the devotee accepts that suffering as Lord's mercy to purify him. The results of past deeds are completely washed away when it is ensured that those actions will not be repeated.

Courtesy: https://stories.shabda.co/2026/01/27/life-of-bhadrachalam-ramdasa/